King cap and the super astute gearbox

[Boomstick 156]

So everyone says I need to replace the gearbox in my king cab with one from the super astute. I need clarification. It that just the housing or just the gears or all of it? Is this a straight drop in swap? Do I need the dog bones too? 

[jonboy1 2943]

I would be inclined to disagree that you need to, but it depends on what you want to do with it. If you're planning on fitting a low turn brushless motor and running lipo's then quite possibly, yes. If you are sticking with a brushed motor and are mindful that this is about 30 years old and in no way going to compete with a Traxxas and just want a bit of nostalgic fun, then no.

The standard transmissions can and do slip eventually, but this doesn't mean they are only fit for the bin. When I rebuilt my Monster Racer I built it with standard transmission with all brand new internals to the instructions and when I first powered it up it barely moved the truck at all. Took it apart, added one shim (as per the advice in the instructions) and hey presto all good! I'd personally say that 90% of the issues with the standard transmission can be solved with new spring washers (only a few buck for new ones) and a shim or two. I remember running my Astute for about 5 years and all I ever did to my transmission was clean it regularly and add 1 shim in all that time. The only thing to watch is that you don't over tighten the three bolts that hold the two halves of the housings together as these can crack and deform them and then it's game over.

If you want the Super Astute TCC then you need the housing, cover and all the internals. The dog bones are the same, so no need for them. You can get the parts list from the Super Astute manual available on the tamiya website or here on the main site. The housing looks the same, but it is different so you can't use your standard one with TCC internals and vice versa. It's not a cheap swap either.

 

[GTodd 1350]

^^^^ on point! I feel exactly the same way and have had similar results. The only reason why I recommend the Super Astute Trans is the current ease of finding points.